But for NYC, a two story as nice as that one looked is probably a steal for that price. And I agree with Trude about location. Besides, RA seems like a shrewd buyer and frugal with his money.

And home pricing is relative to where you live. We have a roomy three bedroom ranch in the Midwest that would probably cost three times what we are paying (30 yr mortgage) for ours if we lived on a coast–let alone, a big city.

Gotta say I kind of agree with you here – but I have always had mixed feelings regarding the expense of NYC (I’m usually only there for work – on expense account).

I do have to concede that NYC is one of the most energetically raw and charismatic cities in the world. I’d expect Armitage to revel and grow in this kind of energy, while fully appreciating its difference from London. 😉

Well if I took the all-time high exchange rate (~$2.11 to 1 GBP) – that 1BR would be a steal at 595k GBP?? The USD was really on bargain basement sale in late 2007!! How can 820k GBP sound worse than $1.25 million? Oh the joys of all the US / UK dual country tax paperwork he has to look forward to! 😉

Hmmmm… maybe it’s because I work on a trading floor where these rates are always on display…. but you might want to consider updating that USD/GBP conversion a tiny bit in your mind…. since it has been trading in a range of 1.36 – 1.69 since 2009 (when I started working in London). 😉

Although – as I am paid in GBP these days, I’d be ecstatic with those higher conversion rates of old. 😉

The flip side of your point above is that US Dollar purchases are then a relative bargain for anyone starting with GBP as basis. So from Armitage’s (or anyone with GBP as primary currency) standpoint, USD assets just appear ‘cheaper’.

Plus, if Armitage starts earning in USD, he’ll now have property tax deductions against his US earnings. 😉

All of which is true, none of which leads me to think, however, that the apartment isn’t overpriced to begin with. But I just have issues w/NYC. Wonderful to visit, wouldn’t want to live there. Another reason Richard Armitage and I won’t be getting together …

I agreed that the price seemed a tad high for the space in my earlier comment and that I also personally had issues with the expense of NYC (in contrast, I find London strangely affordable). 😉

HOWEVER, my ‘profession’ isn’t art, fashion or entertainment either. For an artist/model/actor, NYC can be a real peak experience in terms of the multiplicity of creative activities, venues, and opportunities on offer there. So when I consider the apt from Armitage’s professional background, living in the Village just seems like the most incredibly wonderful adventure in living to me. 😀

For some bizarre reason I thought of a song I saw on YouTube sung by Kristin Chenoweth called The Girl in 14G. Obviously he’s not a girl but I hope if he has bought this place he has considerate neighbours.

That wasn’t my first thought though…my first thought was oh my god…my flat’s probably bigger than that! I only rent because I can’t afford to buy but still…I have 2 bedrooms! 🙂

This is standard for manhattan though. I still remember staying at a friend’s in midtown, walking in and asking, ‘so where’s the bedroom?’ Only to find out I was looking at the whole apartment! And he paid $1800 a month for it 12 years ago! Now it’s $3000 and the space hasn’t gotten any bigger.

It doesn’t really look like a NYC apartment inside- which may be due to the renovations made by the prior owner. It could be, of course, but it looks more like Brooklyn to me, which technically is NYC. The price, too makes me think it may not be Manhattan, as does the view out the window and their shape. But, there are 5 or 6 neighborhoods in Manhattan that come to mind, including my own. I think of him as living downtown- but it doesn’t look like downtown to me. It doesn’t give the square footage, but it seems small for a couple.
Ohhhh.

hahahaha, did he really??? Well, an NZ pad would be a get-away pad, I would assume. Literally hiding away at the world’s end, for some much needed peace. And then back into the madness of filming after recharging the batteries… He’d ruin his carbon footprint, though…

I read that in one of the Hobbit interviews. I imagine these actors need a home base, because they work all over. And NY also has beautiful country upstate for a quiet weekend in the Berkshires or Catskills.

Does it? In terms of Broadway, you mean? For some reason I always associate his States/NYC base with his film career whereas I would assume he’d do theater in London. But that’s probably wishful thinking on my part 😀

Theater is huge in NYC. I have a lot of questions in my mind about this, actually, both with regard to his actual interest in getting back to it, the level of fear he may or may not feel about that, and the extent to which NYC would provide a more anonymous atmosphere for him to dip his feet back into theater again. I even just thought of a sort of Jürgen Klinsmann scenario where he does off off off off Broadway to work himself back in the way Klinsi played soccer under a pseudonym in CA.

Well, just read the original article and it does say ‘the buyer of the pre-war pad is a fella named Richard Armitage who may or may not be the deep-voiced English actor ‘. If it is him, it looks like there’s only room for one or two people in it. It could just be a pied-a-terre for him. Or maybe even bought just an investment?

I agree. I am extremely underwhelmed. As a “Million dollar Listing” fan and other real estate shows, it doesn’t seem to be all that. Wouldn’t he need a second bedroom for his parents when they visit? The windows and fireplace are great, so maybe he will be putting some sweat equity into it. Hope not, it would mean he had a lot of time to spend away from the cameras. Or perhaps it is a second home and not that important to him. Or perhaps I am disappointed he didn’t choose So Cal where I live. Nahhhh, that couldn’t be it.

My ex bought an apt in upper west side for 725k 5 years ago and now it’s over a million. My mother is still wishing he’ll wake up and realize that I’m the ONE regardless if I’m already married to a poor boy LOL

But if RA is the buyer, for its location alone, it’s awesome and he’ll have lots of cool neighbors! Oh, and those windows are to die for!

Yeah, that looks about right for Greenwich, it’s not the Upper East side. I have no idea how that area is, since I’m mostly in lower and midtown Manhattan, and mostly Brooklyn when I’m in the US, but the price is about right for a relatively spacious apartment. And indeed, easy access to everything.

Apparently NYC has the same appeal as London, both cities were not struck with the housing crash at all, so even if he doesn’t live there for long, it’s a good investment.

NYC property prices are just mind boggling at times. And that includes the “suburbs.” All I do know about the Upper East Side is that the price definitely depends on which street you are. Somewhere along the 90s is still acceptable, but over 100 is just…rather not.

Aw, that’s just a few blocks from where I grew up! It’s practically part of the NYU campus (which could be a good OR a bad thing, depending on your perspective.) It’s really close to Washington Square Park if RA needs to score some oregano. In the other direction is Union Square (with the L train straight to Williamsburg, Brooklyn!) and the funkier East Village is totally walkable. University Place (closest north/south street) is a very pretty street.

I’m glad he got a condo and not a co-op; co-op boards are a colossal pain in the butt and unique to NYC as far as I can tell. My dad’s cousin has a co-op apartment just a block away in the Brevoort & she stays there only rarely. Oh to use her place as a pied-a-terre….!

Well, he’d have to show up for the board meetings only if he were serving on the Co-op board, which I assume he wouldn’t. For the shareholders’ meeting he could either not vote or vote by proxy. I’m thinking more that there are all kinds of rules about how you can & can’t use your apartment (sublets, renovations, etc.) and also when it comes time to sell the place, the Board has to approve your buyer both financially and socially. It’s very Jane Austen, actually.

Oh yes, indeed! A co-op is a total pain. One of my cousins bought an apartment in ‘ordinary’ Brooklyn, and had to deal with the co-op. It’s such a weird thing to me, this whole idea that a group of owners has to approve of you as a buyer, and not just financially, but also personally.

😦 Too bad he’s chosen NY – presuming it is *the* Richard Armitage – although I’m sure it’s a great place to live and sort of midway between LA and London, so it would make sense. I’m being selfish here but I would love it if he’d bought a place here in Vancouver. 😉 Plenty of high-end condo’s Downtown yet only minutes from world class skiing with amazing restaurants to satisfy whatever he is in the mood for. This condo, lovely as it is, does, however, seem a far cry from living “off the grid” as he put it, that he had a hankering after, but I guess that could figure in future plans! 🙂

Very true! Vancouver is already a fairly green city and trying to become more so. If you lived Downtown and also worked in that area you could perhaps manage without a car but not many can afford to buy a place there.

I know real estate listings are public and he’ll furnish it differently, etc., but a small part of me feels bad that we’ve seen the inside of his home before he’s even moved in. (Of course the other, larger part of me is squeeing that he’ll be so very close to Boston. 🙂 )

Unfortunately the outside of the co-op building is online as well, with its address on the awning pretty visible. But should this be his future home, he’s got some well-known neighbors and this being NYC, and the Village, most people leave you alone anyway.

Sadly for celebrities, NYC real estate is an open book. The NY Post printed the details of Hugh Jackman’s apartment when he bought it. The listing for this apartment allegedly bought by RA says it was bought 6 weeks ago. It is very easy to get pics of all the rooms, bedroom and bathroom included, online. It REALLY needs a lot of DIY, if RA is the one who bought it, he’ll be busy!! But very nice details. Lovely neighborhood – I was JUST THERE TODAY!! 😀 In fact, I go there every week (therapist IS ON THAT BLOCK!!) Hee hee hee! Very interesting….

FYI, I found the original photos listed with the apartment when it went up for sale. Obviously, I am not going to publish them or his address, but I can assure you that you can rest easy. He has most certainly not moved into a dump. The apartment is modern, GORGEOUS and luxurious, with a fantastic view and a terrace. So, our lovely man has excellent taste. 🙂

If he is indeed the buyer it’s lovely to hear that it’s such a great apartment. I have to say I admire your integrity in not sharing the pictures or the address. As he has said he would have been an architect if he hadn’t been an actor, I’m sure he has a good eye for property! 🙂

Wow the price. Small condo, big price. I do know that it is all where you are at as to what you pay. Mr 70’s oldest cousins daughters, one lives in Wisconsin and one in California, they both bought houses at close to the same time. The one in Wisconsin got a house 3 times as big for half the price as her sister in California. Even where I live we tend to pay a bit more due to the lakes and all the second homes in the area, makes it hard on people living here to afford a house on what most people earn.

I know you have a policy on what you claim is ‘fan policing’ and I am pretty certain that you will class what I am about to say as fan policing but it isn’t at all.

It is COMPLETLEY inapropriate to share this. You be essentially given out his address online. Yes it’s freely available to find, however had you not takes through it and brought this to everyone’s attention then no one would know. You have publicly given out his address. You have crossed a line from admiration of an actor into stalker territory. Where I am from it is actively illegal to do this.

This isn’t fan policing. I am not disputing how you choose to express your like for him, this is telling you that what you have done is morally wrong. You say it’s how you choose to express yourself because it’s your blog but this has crosses a moral and potentially legal boundary. I would take this down if I were you it’s beyond Inappropriate and stalkery to essentially promote and publicise his address.

I know you say you don’t care what richard things. But with half of the fandom already hating your guts do you really think this kind of actions are going to encourage people to support you? Idk how anyone can condone this. You think Richard would appreciate you giving his address out? No he’d get a restraining order out against you because it makes you look like a legitimate obsessive psychopath. The fact that you have activity gone out to search where he lives then draw everyone’s attention to it is a moral disgrace.

Btw I know that you will say you haven’t oven te address. But essentially you have, you’ve made it very easy for people to find the apartment. I know the information was online but it is YOU and you are the only person I know of who has brought the information into the fandom. Censor my comment however you like as I am sure you will, but someone needs to stand up to you and tell you that this sort of invasive behaviour is way WAY over the line.

This is fan policing — one fan telling another fan not to do something that is legal because the first fan disapproves of it — and we’re not going to agree on what behavior is acceptable, quite obviously, or you wouldn’t be here — but I’m going to answer the parts of this that pertain to things I have done and/or thought. I’m not sure this explanation really helps insofar as if you’ve decided that I’m “a psychopath” I’m not going to change your mind, but I might as well state the facts.

I did not “search out” where Armitage lives; the news of speculation about his apartment purchase came to me via Google Alerts. Google Alerts is free and legal for anyone to use. I suspect that thousands of fans subscribe to this information service — I know most Armitage bloggers have done so — and I recommend that anyone who wants to stay up to the minute do so, especially during periods of high press activity. Because the information came on Google Alerts, I was not the first person “who brought it to everyone’s attention,” nor was I the sole person who posted it independently — fellow bloggers knew at the same time that I did, and it appeared on other blogs, on FB, on imdb.com, and on tumblr in places where I did not put it. It appeared independently in those places because other people saw the message via Google Alerts. If you saw it here first, all I can say is “thanks for reading me + richard armitage.”

The laws of the UK, whatever they may be, do not apply in the US. (Europeans in general are often surprised at how little right to privacy an individual may expect in the U.S. In the last state in which I lived, for instance, my vote in primary elections was a matter of public record.) Property transactions in New York State are a matter of public record (this is why the author of the original report had the information). In many places, they are published in local newspapers (although in NYC this would be an onerous task and mostly uninteresting reading).

I’m not doing any of the things I do for the purposes of getting anyone to “support” me. This blog is the record of a personal journey, written for myself and for the enjoyment and entertainment of the likeminded, not a political campaign. Nor does it ask anyone to do anything but think, apart from the occasional request to be kind to fellow fans, give to charity and/or engage in acts of kindness elsewhere. Anyone who isn’t likeminded or doesn’t like it for any reason at all should just not read it. There’s a big wide wonderful world of fandom out there for people to enjoy and no one forces you or anyone else to include me in it.

If Richard Armitage or his representatives believe I am doing anything illegal, I agree that he can certainly obtain a restraining order. The U.S. legal system, insofar as it protects anyone’s privacy here, stands open to him.